How to Save a Life
by WitchyGirl99
Summary: The only regrets we have in life are the chances we don't take, the opportunities we let pass and the love we let go. In one moment, everything can change. Inuyasha will see that. Kagome will live it. InuKag, TwoShot.
1. A Glimpse

**Author's Note: So my lovelies, this is what happens when I have an emotional unhappy conversation and a small (very very small and ineffective) amount of liquor. This story is important to me for so many reasons and I've been mauling this over in my head for months now. Of course, as I've mentioned I write what I'm in the mood for and hey budda boom badda bing, this is the end result. Please take time to read it. If you know the kind of writer I am, you know I won't make this depressing. This does have romance in it, remember? Trust me.**

**This is a two-parter. I've posted them together because I felt like this was the way it should be structured. Please review and let me know what you think, even if you want to kill me.**

**This is also not affiliated in any way, shape or form to the story How to Kill Me. The titles are just similar in nature.**

**Warning: part one character death (NOT part two). Read the second part, I promise it's worth it. Take note to the time I've lovingly provided.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the song How to Save a Life by The Fray.

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**How to Save a Life

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**

_A Glimpse - Part One_

_Saturday, April 17__th__, 2010_

_6:38 pm

* * *

_

This couldn't be happening.

"I need to sort this out!" Inuyasha yelled, pulling back and turning around so fast that his long black hair whipped his face. "I need to do this alone!"

"No one should be alone like this! You deserve to be taken care of just like everyone else! You are not fucking special Inuyasha! You're not this evolutionary being that doesn't need comfort and companionship during loss! I'm _here_ for you, no matter what. I'm here to help you deal with the death of a woman you loved and cherished! I'm here to take care of you and glue back the pieces of the heart you've seemed to shatter!" Kagome Higurashi could barely keep it together.

"Fuck off! Shut the fuck up!" Inuyasha yelled, punching at the wall inches from his face. "Stop talking!" Another punch and Kagome flinched as the impact cracked the drywall.

"Inuyasha, I can't..." The words died from her lips when he finally turned to face her.

"Get out," he whispered again, hatred clear in his face. "Get out right now."

The next moment was a blur of pain and fury and desperation. She was hardly aware of the glass shattering in her hands or the plates she smashed into the walls. She didn't register the crashing noises or the screams and shouts of Inuyasha's curses and complaints. She kicked and fought every step and every movement towards his front door, fighting with the key ring before throwing the metal object at his head, wishing it hit him harder than it had. She ripped the ring he had given her on their first anniversary off of her finger and threw that too into the mess of broken glass and damaged property.

"Have a good fucking life," she screamed, feeling like every part of her was slowly shutting down to nothing but hurt and fear coiled in her stomach. "If you didn't want to lose me, well you fucking lost me now."

She couldn't even look at him anymore. Kagome shook her head and left, shutting the door quietly before running down the hallway. She didn't even wait for the elevator, taking the stairs and running down the long flights, taking one step at a time until she reached the bottom.

She ran into the parking lot and started her car, not watching to make sure she didn't hit anyone, not checking her blind spots or rear-view mirror or fucking windshield. She drove as if tears didn't blind her vision, completely obscuring everything into muddled shapes of cold and unloving objects. Nothing was going to make her feel better now.

The buzzing of her phone almost snapped her back to reality. She quickly reached down, watching as the ID screen flashed a picture of _him_ and in pure rage she threw the phone down into the passenger seat.

Fuck Inuyasha. Fuck him and his need to be alone.

Fuck everything.

Fuck the city and the people and the ones that didn't give a crap about poor girls like her.

Fuck her friends that never understood, the enemies that stabbed her back and the boyfriends that treated her like shit.

Fuck the world and all of its inhabitants.

Her car swerved into the right lane, preparing for the right turn ahead.

The phone vibrated again and Kagome wasted no time in snatching it up, answering the call and screaming like there was nothing else in the world left to do because this was it. This was Kagome's time now and she would be damned if anything stopped her.

"What the fuck do you want now Inuyasha?" Kagome yelled; her voice was almost raw from choking on the sobs that constantly escaped past her lips. "What the hell do you want? Do you want to tell me how worthless I am and how I ruined your life?"

The turn was approaching fast now and even though it was a red light, Kagome barely cared. Turning right on red was legal and Kagome had every intention of slowing her vehicle down – just not stopping, never stopping because she couldn't.

"Kagome–"

"Shut up Inuyasha!" she yelled again, barely seeing the road as she applied pressure to the brakes and gripped the steering wheel tight with her left hand. "I don't need to talk to you and I don't need to deal with you right now! You wanted me gone well now I'm gone!"

She looked haphazardly to the left, unable to see much past the tears but she didn't care, didn't worry because she was turning the wheel in her hand, making the turn and going home damn it because that's what she had to do. That was her goal, as short lived as it was.

"Kagome–"

"I'm fucking gone!" she screamed, bitter and crying.

The pain was there and suddenly it wasn't. The absolute force of the massive eighteen-wheeler truck going just over the eighty kilometres-per-hour speed limit was enough resulting trauma to kill her instantly. The driver's side of the car crushed into itself, folding in half and mangling the body left inside. The truck screeched to a halt several feet ahead, the driver looking stricken and deathly pale as he jumped out and ran to the destroyed car on his front bumper. There was nothing he could do.

Police, fire fighters and paramedics were called to the scene, trying to separate the truck and the car before attempting to even find the body of the dead woman.

What no one knew – out of the thirty-four concerned onlookers and the several dozen hard-working crew members – was that within the tangled mess of snapped metal and deflated air bags was a cellphone beeping from a disconnected call.

When Kagome said she was gone, she really meant it.

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**I promise this is not the end (or, actually, the beginning). Note the time for this part and then please move on to **_A Future - Part Two_. **There's a message here I am addressing.**


	2. A Future

**Here is the second part. Enjoy.**

**No warnings, promise.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or How to Save a Life by The Fray.

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**How to Save a Life

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**

_A Future - Part Two_

_Saturday, April 17__th__, 2010_

_5:56 pm

* * *

_

If Kagome Higurashi hadn't been angry, she probably would've driven the speed limit. It wasn't like the hilly road she was on was slow, but the tears welling up in her eyes and the fact that her heart was clenching so hard it literally _hurt _made driving anything over the limit hazardous.

She remembered the conversation she had not twenty minutes ago. His rough voice had made butterflies cling to her insides and when the conversation was over, each feather-light bug turned into jagged rocks. She had never felt so much pain before in her life.

"What do you mean?" Kagome whispered, almost too afraid to speak. The words he said were too harsh, too painful.

The sigh from the other end sounded bitter, forceful. "I think I need some time to think about things. I need to be alone, just for a little bit."

Kagome felt her throat tighten, her hands shake and her entire body melt. "This has to do with Kikyo, doesn't it? The fact that she's dead and there's nothing you can do."

"Don't say it like that," Inuyasha hissed; his voice was too sharp, too pained.

Kagome's lip was trembling but she took a deep breath – four deep breaths more like it. "You're breaking up with me because your ex-girlfriend is dead–"

"No!"

"Even though you've been apart for over five years and you've been with me for three." It hit her like a ton of bricks. The fact that she had been so _stupid_ to have overlooked the obvious just because he made her a promise almost made her sick to her stomach. Things like being over his ex, of being ready to move on, of wanted to spend time with her, of loving _her_.

But no, he was just seeing Kikyo.

The uncanny resemblance was something that had at first shaken Kagome to the core. It drew doubts in her mind, thoughts that she didn't want to progress to. Inuyasha had held her close, _swore_ to her that it wasn't like that. Maybe at first glance had he seen his past love, but no longer.

Not since he realized how different they were.

Not since he realized he needed her in his life.

Not since he realized that he loved her.

Kagome – not Kikyo. It was always Kagome.

And she had believed him. She clung to the belief that he was seeing her for who she was and not his ex-girlfriend. She thought that if she pointed out time and time again how they were nothing alike, that Inuyasha would really see the difference between them. If he stayed, he loved Kagome. If he left, he loved Kikyo.

He had stayed and she never doubted him again.

It was the wrong option.

Now here she was, pulling into the driveway to his building complex and trying to pull herself together. This wasn't happening. The moment he saw her and remembered that she was _Kagome_ and not _Kikyo_, that he loved _Kagome_ and not _Kikyo_, everything would be fine. He would hug her and soothe her until this entire mess was over. She didn't want to think about this ever again. Not once.

Not ever.

Sliding out of her car and punching in the code to open the door, Kagome ran through the hallway and pressed the elevator door to open. She waited impatiently, hands clinging to the wall like she was to her resolve. Everything would be fine. Everything would be okay. This wasn't as big of a nightmare as she thought it was.

And if it was, please let her wake up.

* * *

_Step one: you say "we need to talk"._

_He walks. You say "sit down, it's just to talk"._

_He smiles politely back at you._

_You stare politely right on through.

* * *

_

The elevator dinged its appearance and Kagome practically flew through doors, pressing the button for the fifth floor and hitting the 'close' button multiple times. She could barely stand still. She could barely keep the tears in. They still poured down like little traitors, covering her cheeks and wetting the white t-shirt she wore. She had to keep herself from falling apart, just until she saw Inuyasha.

When the doors finally opened, Kagome wasted no time in rushing towards his room, fiddling with the keys and trying to keep her hand steady enough to unlock the door. It was useless though because the moment she thought she had it, the doors swung open to reveal _him_. Inuyasha Taisho, her love, her fucking _life_. Black hair tousled in a mess and eyes gleaming with unshed, angry tears, he stepped forward and grabbed her arm, dragging her inside.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed, slamming the door shut behind him. "Was the conversation one-sided? Was I talking to myself?"

"Inuyasha..." The moment it left her lips, Kagome was sure that whatever she thought in her head was not how reality was going to play out. This was a totally different ballgame and she was left more than just a little unbalanced and unprepared.

* * *

_Some sort of window to your right._

_He goes left and you stay right._

_Between the lines of fear and blame,_

_You begin to wonder why you came.

* * *

_

"What are you doing here Kagome?" Inuyasha asked and Kagome could see the raging fire burning down in the dark brown depths of his eyes. "What?"

"You can't just– just call me and expect for me to just _accept _it," Kagome whispered, feeling as though someone was squeezing the air out of her lungs. "Please, Inuyasha. We need to talk about this, talk about _us_."

"I thought I said everything that needed to be said," he answered firmly, standing ground in front of the door with his arms crossed. "I need time."

"Time for what exactly?" Kagome asked. "I know that the woman you cared about deeply just died in a freak accident. I understand that you feel pain and sorrow and loss but _fuck_ Inuyasha, she has nothing to do with us!"

"You don't know how the fuck I feel!" Inuyasha shouted, taking steps closer until he was in her face, filling up the void around her but causing an even bigger one to grow within. "You don't know _shit_ about what I'm experiencing!"

"So you're not denying it then," Kagome whispered again. She was sure that she didn't have the voice or the ability to speak any louder. "Kikyo," she said softly, watching the instantaneous flinch cross his features. "Kikyo is the basis of _us_. But really, there is no _us,_ is there? There is you and Kikyo and me – the convenient substitute."

* * *

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend,_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life.

* * *

_

"It's not like that," he said fiercely. "It's not."

Kagome would've laughed if she felt she could. "Then what is it like Inuyasha? Why else would you be taking a break from the relationship we've built three years on because your ex-girlfriend _died_? What about her determines our future, our outcome?"

Inuyasha flinched again, turning around and heading into the kitchen. "Get out," he stated simply and she was left standing in the living room, listening to the cupboard doors slam in the kitchen. She could tell what he was doing. The familiar sound of his movement in the other room; the catch on the liquor cabinet, the clink of glass, the whooshing air of the fridge being pried open. He was drinking, drowning himself in alcohol to escape it all.

And where the fuck did that leave her? _Get out_. Where the _fuck_ did that leave her? What was she supposed to do just walk out on the man she loved? Forget the years of loving and caring and _being_ that they spent three solid and amazing years on? In all of that time, Kagome never felt second to Kikyo, excluding the time when she learned how similar she was to her in appearance. Still, Inuyasha had always felt like he was hers. When they were alone in the room together, loving, it was only _them._

The solid echo of two people caring more than anything else about each other in how they feel and how they _want_.

She couldn't just give it all up because of a fight. She couldn't just let him slip through her fingers when he was obviously hurting, feeling alone and in a miserable state. Kagome could understand how hard it must be to lose a past love. You never stopped loving a person – you just leaned to move on. Kagome understood that with every fibre of her being.

Inuyasha needed help and guidance and love – her love.

* * *

_Let him know that you know best_

'_Cause after all, you do know best._

_Try to slip past his defence_

_Without granting innocence.

* * *

_

But now, he was pushing her away and diving headfirst into a glass of years-old scotch to solve his problems. And how was that supposed to make her feel?

"I'm not leaving," Kagome said firmly, following his footsteps into the kitchen and watching as Inuyasha perched himself on the counter. His eyes still burned into her pale flesh, tearing a little piece off of her bit by bit. The unshed tears hurt more than her already free-flowing droplets. "I can't leave you."

Inuyasha seemed to contemplate this for a moment before downing the glass of scotch, making a growling noise and a soft hiss as it burned throughout his body. "I can't make you but I sure as hell don't want you here."

"Why?" Kagome asked, finding it strange that when his verbal blows hurt more than any physical damage could that her voice was finding purchase. "So you can be alone to _kill_ yourself? I know you loved her, Inuyasha. I'm not stupid or immature or even blind. But I also know that you love me, whether you like it or not. I love you." She stepped closer, only a foot away from his hanging legs and feeling like a canyon was still between them. "I can help you Inuyasha. I don't want you to be alone and I sure as hell don't want you to think that I abandoned you."

"Now why the fuck would I feel like you abandoned me when I've been begging for you to fucking _leave_?" Inuyasha hollered, flicking his empty glass and tossing her an angry stare. "I'm not stupid either. I know that you resent the fact I fell in love with someone else first. I know that you resent the fact that you feel the need to overcompensate for my loss. I know you're not Kikyo, Kagome. I never even put your personalities in the same league with each other!" He laughed bitterly as he jumped off of the counter and went to grab more scotch. "I fell in love you with you too, by the way."

"I know," Kagome replied, unsure of where he was going, what he was about to do. Inuyasha tended to do drastic things when he was upset and with the alcohol potentially adding fuel to the fire, she wasn't sure what to expect from her lover. "I don't doubt that."

* * *

_Lay down a list of what is wrong,_

_The things you've told him all along_

_And pray to god he hears you,_

_And pray to god he hears you.

* * *

_

Inuyasha's sigh was soft. "Why don't you just go then?" he practically whispered, voice almost lost past his lips. "Why won't you give me time to get this sorted out?"

"Because I know you," Kagome stated, stepping closer and reaching out, still not touching. "I know that you'll start to compare and that you'll start to question your relationship with Kikyo and your relationship with me. I know what you're like. You'll start to wonder how things went so bad with your ex-girlfriend that you'll wonder how you're even whole enough to have me love you in return. I know that once this is all said and done, you'll question if you're even worthy of having me and deserving me."

"I won't –"

Kagome interrupted him before he could argue against her. "You've done it before and you'll do it again. I'm not leaving and that is final."

* * *

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend,_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life.

* * *

_

Inuyasha was so still and so silent, Kagome barely had time to worry her full bottom lip before she was being cornered into the back wall, feeling his hot breath roll over her face with the smell of scotch overloading her senses. His eyes glared at her and she could see the tears welling up start to break, falling gently over his cheek and down the stubble of a morning without shaving. "I want you gone right now, Kagome. I can't do this. I _loved _her and I _love_ you. It's... Do you know how hard it is for me to sort through anything when you're around? Do you understand what it's like to have to compartmentalize memories and distinguish tidbits of facts when you two are virtually identical?"

"That's not my fault," Kagome whimpered, feeling tears start to pour down her cheeks again harder and faster than before, like the dam was only just cracked before she entered the apartment. "You know that's not my fault."

"It's nobody's fault but _mine!_" Inuyasha screamed, shaking her shoulders with his strong hands. She felt her head hit the wall and a headache blooming across the front of her skull.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be the result she was aiming for. This couldn't be the end of all the treasuring and caring and loving that she had put in. People were supposed to receive what they gave in life, right? In a just world where evil and good balanced out the scales, where was her return in this? Where was she supposed to find refuge in the absolute hurt that was residing her in heart and eating at her soul?

* * *

_As he begins to raise his voice, _

_You lower yours and grant him one last choice:_

_Drive until you lose the road_

_Or break with the ones you've followed.

* * *

_

"I need to sort this out!" Inuyasha yelled, pulling back and turning around so fast that his long black hair whipped his face. "I need to do this alone!"

"No one should be alone like this!" It was like something in her snapped. Maybe the dam holding back the tears just finally gave, or maybe her resolve for a better result was just coming undone with the seams bursting. "You deserve to be taken care of just like everyone else! You are not fucking special Inuyasha!" she screamed, hitting the wall behind her with the flat of her palm. The sting ricocheted up her arm but she didn't care, didn't let it stop her. "You're not this evolutionary being that doesn't need comfort and companionship during loss! I'm _here_ for you, no matter what. I'm here to help you deal with the death of a woman you loved and cherished! I'm here to take care of you and glue back the pieces of the heart you've seemed to shatter!"

"Fuck off! Shut the fuck up!" Inuyasha yelled, punching at the wall inches from his face. "Stop talking!" Another punch and Kagome flinched as the impact cracked the drywall. The hiss that fell from his lips almost made her run up to him and take his hand. It almost made her get the first aid kit and bandage whatever harm he had caused. It almost made her fall apart.

"Inuyasha, I can't..." The words died from her lips when he finally turned to face her. The expression on his face was not unreadable or masked in any way. It actually cut at her, stabbed her in the heart and the gut, her legs, arms and fingertips. Every single part of her was literally breaking down because what she saw in his eyes was something that she didn't deserve to be subjected to right now, at this moment when all she was trying to do was love and care.

* * *

_He will do one of two things:_

_He will admit to everything_

_Or he'll say he's just not the same_

_And you'll being to wonder why you came.

* * *

_

"Get out," he whispered again, hatred clear in his face. "Get out right now."

The next moment was a blur of pain and fury and desperation. She was hardly aware of the glass shattering in her hands or the plates she smashed into the walls. She didn't register the crashing noises or the screams and shouts of Inuyasha's curses and complaints. She kicked and fought every step and every movement towards his front door, fighting with the key ring before throwing the metal object at his head, wishing it hit him harder than it had. She ripped the ring he had given her on their first anniversary off of her finger and threw that too into the mess of broken glass and damaged property.

"Have a good fucking life," she screamed, feeling like every part of her was slowly shutting down to nothing but hurt and fear coiled in her stomach. "If you didn't want to lose me, well you fucking lost me now. When you sit there and wonder why I loved you in the first place, despite the baggage you carried or the troubles you had, you fucking _remember _that I love you. You fucking think about how I fought for you every step of the goddamned way on that uphill battle. And when you ask yourself if you were worth it, you tell yourself _yes_." Kagome was spitting the words out so fast, she hardly had time to breathe in between each sentence or make the dramatic pauses only Hollywood would make. "You tell yourself that you were worth it up until the last twenty minutes of the fucking life we built together. You were worth all of it, until now." She spoke the last part in a whisper, watching as his face started to drain to pale ash.

"Kagome," he said desperately, anger still in his voice but with a tinge of what hinted at regret.

* * *

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend,_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life.

* * *

_

She couldn't even look at him anymore. Kagome shook her head and left, shutting the door quietly before running down the hallway. She didn't even wait for the elevator, taking the stairs and running down the long flights, taking one step at a time until she reached the bottom.

In all honestly, the bottom didn't feel like it was deep enough to bury in.

* * *

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend,_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life.

* * *

_

Inuyasha couldn't register things fast enough, couldn't process the scene before him of broken glass, destroyed paintings and ripped walls. All he saw, standing there alone in his apartment was the shine of the red garnet sparkling under a shard of glass.

He recognized the simple band as the present he had bought Kagome for their very first anniversary. It seemed almost foreign to him now, the feeling of pride and happiness that he felt when he first presented it to her with a dramatic bow and dazzling smile. The concept of Kagome being so happy over the smallest little rock, not even the most expensive thing he could've purchased, was beyond him even to this day. But the garnet was shaped like a heart and the silver band held a silent promise to be together.

No matter what came their way or what happened to them in the future, Inuyasha had promised Kagome a life that she deserved above all else.

Right now, as he stared at the ring, he felt his anger slip away and the first claws of sadness ate at him bitterly.

* * *

_How to save a life._

_How to save a life.

* * *

_

She ran into the parking lot and started her car, not watching to make sure she didn't hit anyone, not checking her blind spots or rear-view mirror or fucking windshield. She drove as if tears didn't blind her vision, completely obscuring everything into muddled shapes of cold and unloving objects. Nothing was going to make her feel better now.

She turned onto the road without care for the cars honking around her, the curses that were shot towards her. She couldn't give a fucking damn. Right now, Kagome just wanted to go home and curl up in a ball. She wanted to sleep until she could sleep no more. She wanted to throw up whatever was in her system because she needed to purge herself of whatever evil caused her to freak out in his room and destroy what little belonged to him.

Kagome needed to get a hold of her body and get a hold of reality.

Maybe Inuyasha was right: some things just needed to be done alone.

* * *

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend,_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life.

* * *

_

With the glittering ring in his hand, Inuyasha had the most horrifying moment in his entire life. Like he had been struck by lightning, a vision of Kagome glaring at him with emotionless eyes haunted him.

What if, by some tragic freak accident, Kagome died? What if her name was the last thing he ever said to her? What if the words "get out of here now" were the second last? Could he live with himself? Was this the ending that he wanted?

Was this really what he had been wanting this entire time?

Why had Inuyasha called her in the first place to ask for time alone? Was he really that sick and masochistic that he _wanted_ to feel not only his own grief for the death of Kikyo but the loss of his girlfriend as well? Was he that fucked up?

The idea struck into him like cement pouring into his body. In one terrible moment he couldn't breathe and it was like life had just stopped.

And then it kept turning, letting him out like a spat out drowned cat and Inuyasha ran to the phone like he was running towards the last bit of his soul. He needed to fix the mistakes he made. Inuyasha needed to stop Kagome before something happened that would change his life forever.

Inuyasha knew that he had problems. Inuyasha knew that he needed to be fixed slowly and surely with steady hands and a strong heart.

Kagome had always been that to him and right now, he was sure he couldn't give her up for anything.

* * *

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend,_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life.

* * *

_

Kagome could barely see the cars she cut off or hear the screeching of brakes surrounding her. Instead, she was focused on making it home, to the safety of her haven that she built for herself in a city that was unloving and cruel to a country girl moving into the real world.

The buzzing of her phone almost snapped her back to reality. She quickly reached down, watching as the ID screen flashed a picture of _him_ and in pure rage she threw the phone down into the passenger seat.

Fuck Inuyasha. Fuck him and his need to be alone.

Fuck everything.

Fuck the city and the people and the ones that didn't give a crap about poor girls like her.

Fuck her friends that never understood, the enemies that stabbed her back and the boyfriends that treated her like shit.

Fuck the world and all of its inhabitants.

Starting today, Kagome was going to make something out of the empty shell she had left. She was going to rebuild the broken and burnt bridges and become strong, independent and worthy of love.

Her car swerved into the right lane, preparing for the right turn ahead. She was almost at home, almost safe, almost protected. Kagome could practically feel the soft sheets she would hide in and smell the scent of vanilla she burned from her single candle or see the black and white images of family and friends loving each other, loving what was called life.

The phone vibrated again and Kagome wasted no time in snatching it up, answering the call and screaming like there was nothing else in the world left to do because this was it. This was Kagome's time now and she would be damned if anything stopped her.

"Kagome, pull the car over!" Inuyasha yelled from the other end immediately, breaking her off before she could even start and causing more severe pain through her heart.

"Why the fuck should I?" she demanded.

She could hear the desperation in his voice. "We need to talk. Kagome, please," he begged. "Just stop. Right now, just pull over and we can talk. I can find you and we can talk like you wanted to. Please."

"Why should I?" she asked again, more tears falling and more tears blurring. The turn was approaching fast and she could just hang up on him and go home like she planned to. She could rebuild what was left and fix the broken pieces of her heart alone.

"Because no one should be alone like this," Inuyasha whispered softly, repeating words that rang in her head like alarm bells.

Without pausing, she swung the car into a parking lot to the right of her, just feet away from the right turn ahead. She didn't park properly or even care to see where the yellow lines were. All she did to make the situation possible was stop the car and _breathe_.

"What did you say?" she asked, feeling the clench in her heart, the rocks that were buried somewhere deep within her. "You can't- you can't do this to me Inuyasha." The tears were pouring down her cheeks so that Kagome couldn't see the steering wheel in front of her, the display screen that was warning her.

"No one should be alone like this," he repeated and Kagome could hear the jingling of keys and the slamming of his front door. "Where are you?"

"Where am I?" Kagome repeated, almost lost. She had to blink rapidly and wipe at the tears furiously for a few moments before registering what plaza she was in at what intersection. "W-Welling and Rose," she stammered, looking around. "I'm in the plaza on the r-right of Rose, just before Welling."

"Don't move, Kagome," Inuyasha said firmly. "Turn off the car and just sit there."

Kagome nodded before mumbling her compliance. "Inuyasha...?"

"I love you," he said breathlessly, as if he was running. "I love you and yes, we have a lot of shit to deal with. Yes, I have a lot of baggage and yes, we need to work this out both alone and together. But Kagome, I love you and that means something right?"

She could barely breathe, even though it was the first moment in a long while that her lungs felt free of the steel band that had been previously crushing them. "I love you," she said before breaking down and crying. Whether she was crying harder now than she was before Kagome wasn't sure. Whether she was crying out of happiness or sorrow Kagome wasn't sure.

But she loved Inuyasha and Inuyasha loved her. And that meant something.

* * *

_How to save a life._

_How to save a life.

* * *

_

**I can see where this may be confusing, but it's not meant to be. These are two alternate realities in two parts.**

**Let me know what you think (even if you slightly feel like strangling me). I appreciate ideas and feedback.**


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